Martigues (France) (AFP) – A few hundred strikers gather in front of the Lavéra refinery in Martigues, southern France, to protest against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plan. Before a nationwide strike on 31 January, strikes begin anew for 48 hours in refineries and EDF power stations, and for 24 hours in ports and docks.
Stockholm (AFP) – European Union heads of delegations pose for a photograph during an informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers in Stockholm, Sweden.
Algeciras (Spain) (AFP) – People gather in the town of Algeciras, southern Spain, to hold a vigil for the victims of an attack on two churches on Thursday. A machete-weilding assailant stormed the churches, killing one and badly wounding a priest, before being arrested on the scene. IMAGES
Spain has opened a terror probe after a man wielding a bladed weapon stormed a church in the southern town of Algeciras, killing one and wounding several others, legal sources tell AFP. Prosecutors say the probe will be led by a judge from the Audiencia Nacional, Spain’s top criminal court.
Smoke rises north of Bakhmut close to Soledar, eastern Ukraine, where heavy fighting is taking place as Russian forces try to capture the town. The defence of the village of Paraskoviivka, located north of Bakhmut, is “very strong”, according to a senior sergeant who warns that “there can be an operational encirclement of Bakhmut” if the Russian forces take the village and block the road to the town.
Pretoria (AFP) – US Treasury chief Janet Yellen meets with her South African counterpart Enoch Godongwana on the last stop of her African tour. The trip has been aimed at forging a new “mutually beneficial” economic strategy toward Africa, where countries are being aggressively courted by Russia and China.
Brazilian highliner Rafael Bridi walks 510 metres on a highline between two buildings in Sao Paulo at a height of 114 metres, beating the record of the longest crossing in an urban area in the Americas. The 35-year-old took 25 minutes to complete the nail-biting trip between the skyscrapers in the Vale do Anhangabaú area of the Brazilian metropolis.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gives a speech from a balcony at the Montevideo City Hall in front of local supporters after meeting his Uruguayan counterpart Luis Lacalle Pou. Lula began his first international tour with a visit to neighbours Argentina and Uruguay with the aim of restoring the South American powerhouse’s regional leadership after the administration of far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
Seoul (AFP) – Heavy snowfall and low temperatures grip the South Korean capital of Seoul following a cold weather warning by South Korea’s Meteorological Administration issued earlier this week. IMAGES
Sydney (AFP) – People are protesting in Sydney as the country debates whether it should recognise its long-suffering Indigenous population within the constitution. Australia Day on January 26 has traditionally celebrated the arrival of European settlers at Sydney Harbour in 1788, and typically been observed with beach parties and backyard barbecues. IMAGES
Kyoto (Japan) (AFP) – Tourists in Kyoto snap wintry scenes at shrines, and the city’s famous temples are covered in snow, as a winter storm hits large swathes of Japan.
Puno (Peru) (AFP) – Members of Peru’s Uru Indigenous community, who live on artificial floating islands and call themselves “people of the water,” hold a protest on boats floating in lake Titicaca, near the border with Bolivia, amid nationwide unrest that has left at least 46 people dead.
